elk (redirected from North American elk)

elk, name applied to several large members of the deer family. It most properly designates the largest member of the family, Alces alces, found in the northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In North America this animal is called moose. The name elk is used in North America to designate a different animal, the wapiti, closely related to the red deer of Europe. The prehistoric Irish elk, Megaceros giganteus, is still another species, related to the fallow deer. It was found in Europe and W Asia in Pleistocene and early Holocene times and had an 11-ft (3.3-m) antler span, the largest of any deer. All animals called elk are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Cervidae.

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elk

Any of several species of large deer in the genus Cervus, notably the red deer of Europe, the Kashmir stag, and the Himalayan shou, as well as the North American deer more correctly called wapiti. The creature called elk in Europe is a member of the species (Alces alces) known in North America as moose. The name is also applied to the extinct Irish elk.

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elk

1. a large deer, Alces alces, of N Europe and Asia, having large flattened palmate antlers: also occurs in North America, where it is called a moose

2. American elk another name for wapiti

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elk [elk]

(vertebrate zoology)

Alces alces.A mammal (family Cervidae) in Europe and Asia that resembles the North American moose but is smaller; it is the largest living deer.

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Elk - Extension Language Kit